LESTER'S DINER DRAWS DAILY DOSE OF DEVOTEES

It's 7 a.m. on any weekday morning and Dale Anderson and Manford Krukow are sitting in a booth by the window, sipping 14-ounce cups of coffee and preparing for a hectic work day.

Sitting behind them, Herschel Haymons orders his breakfast and pops a quarter into the juke box at his booth and punches in the code for the Beatles' Ticket to Ride.

Two booths in front of Anderson and Krukow, Dolores Camillio and Thelma Dee, who work at Sunair Electronics, talk and read the paper over coffee.

The five work not too far from Lester's Diner on State Road 84, and stop there each morning before heading their separate ways to face another day on the job.

Combined, the five of them have been stopping at Lester's for 63 years.

That's not unusual.

Ask a diner at Lester's how long he or she has been coming there and it's not uncommon to hear responses of 10, 15, 20 years.

At almost any time of the day, the 24-hour restaurant is hopping, the booths, counter and rear dining room filled with customers requesting a full meal, home baked desserts, or just a cup of coffee.

Most say it's a combination of the food, laid-back atmosphere and friendly waitresses, some of whom have been serving Lester's customers for 20 years, that keeps people coming back.

Three years ago, Lester Bammesberger sold the diner that bears his name to twin brothers Louie and Peter Dogagis.

Except for an expanded menu and a little remodeling, not much has changed at the diner, famous for its 14-ounce cups of coffee and celebrity customers.

Vice President George Bush has eaten at the diner as have several state and local politicians and Dolphins football players. The sign out front was featured on Alice, the television show about waitresses who worked at Mel's Diner.

For almost 23 years, Lester's Diner, which started as a truckers' hangout, has attracted the affluent and indigent, elderly and adolescent, assembly line worker and professional.

"I come here at 6:30 every morning to read and unwind so when I get to work I won't be crabby," Camillio said. She's been doing that for 13 years.

"This is calming," Dee said, as she sipped her coffee.

Several of the early morning patrons call Dee "Wilma," a nickname started by waitress Caroline Bray.

When Dee started coming to the diner eight years ago, Caroline Bray misunderstood her name and called her Wilma instead of Thelma. The name stuck.

Dee would probably change her name before changing waitresses.

Anderson, Krukow, Herschel, Camillio and Dee are just five members of Caroline's "breakfast club."

Like several waitresses at Lester's, Caroline, who works the 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. shift, has developed a devoted following of customers who move with her each day from station to station.

"When my brother comes in, will you tell him I was already here," Krukow asked Caroline before leaving one morning.

"Sure," she answered. "Now you have a good day," she told Krukow as she ushered him out the door.

Caroline has been at Lester's for 18 years. "You can almost tell what time it is by the customers who come in the door," she said.

Her customers agree that when Caroline is taking care of them, she's always friendly and she always gives them what they want.

"Most people want some attention," Haymons said. "No matter who they are, they want a smile."

William Davis has been eating two meals a day at Lester's for the past 15 years.

For about the last five of those years, he has met four other men -- Mike, Bill, Gil and Ceril -- for dinner every night at 5:30 p.m. The five met at Lester's and only see each other inside the diner.

"I live by myself and don't like to eat alone," Davis said. The people at Lester's are "just like part of your family."

George Heller, owner of Heller's Carbonic Inc., a dry ice/carbonic gas company with six offices throughout the country, agreed with Davis.

"It's kind of like home to us," said Heller, of himself and his wife, Mary.

The Hellers, of Madison, Wis., have a home in North Miami. They make Lester's a daily stop on their trips to South Florida.

"The service has always been good. We remember the waitresses from year to year and they remember us," Heller said.

But it takes more than good waitresses and a friendly atmosphere to keep customers coming and attract passers-by who don't know of the aura surrounding Lester's.

That something more is the food, the reason for the diner's existence.

"There are very few places in town where you can come in and get meat, potatoes, gravy, homemade soups, pies and still go out with change in your pocket," said Jackie Petrone, the Dogagis brothers' right-hand woman in the diner.

"We have homemade specials that you can't find anywhere else," said Louie Dogagis.

He was a cook for Lester's when Bammesberger still owned the diner. When Lester decided to sell and retire to Scottsdale, Ariz., the Dogagis brothers made him an offer.

Louie said they've tried to maintain the atmosphere created by Lester.

"We don't look if a guy wears a tie or doesn't wear a tie. If he's our customer, we take care of him."